


tell me i'm rare (talk to the boy in me, he's there)

by turtledux



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Autistic Zuko (Avatar), Banter, Bisexual Mai (Avatar), Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Dialogue Heavy, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gender Dysphoria, Haircuts, Light Angst, Not Beta Read, POV Mai (Avatar), Romance, Romantic Fluff, Trans Female Character, Trans Mai, Trans Male Character, Trans Zuko (Avatar), Zuko gets a buzzcut hehe, but it's not a focus or rly talked about, maiko, t4t maiko hours baybey, title from 'Cut My Hair' by Big Thief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29866662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtledux/pseuds/turtledux
Summary: [ Mai sighs. “Here: Is it a texture thing or gender thing?” Beating around the bush is a help neither to her nor him. Plus, she recalls the rare instances of Zuko impulse-cutting strands of his hair after the feeling was too much on his neck (like brother, like sister she muses self-humorously). And she personally understands the feeling of how wrong a hairstyle can be.Zuko’s hands relax and he looks back towards her. “A gender thing.” Mai nods. She stands and heads over to Zuko, softly putting strands of the subject at hand behind his ears and then placing her hands on his shoulders.“Now, my dearly handsome boyfriend, care to elaborate on that?” Zuko's face scrunches up in a distinctly unhandsome way as reaction and she takes on a small, amused grin.“Never compliment me like that again.”“Deal. I sounded like the main character of a shitty romcom.” Neither mention how much she actually likes watching those. Especially the shitty ones. ]mai gives zuko a haircut.
Relationships: Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 69
Collections: Canon Ship Fics of AtLA





	tell me i'm rare (talk to the boy in me, he's there)

**Author's Note:**

> hello t4t maiko nation!!!! not only that, but this is also buzzcut zuko propaganda(aka his best hairstyle). however i must give credit where credit is due <3 this was inspired heavily from a post & its tags made by @stonebutchzuko on tumblr, which @ed me about how the song the title is from is t4t-maiko-core. I Was Inspired. nehoo, i hope u all enjoy!!!

“Can you cut my hair?”

Mai startles out of her book-reading trance to look at Zuko, where he’s sitting on a kitchen stool, questionably. 

Mai likes her silences with Zuko. They’re comfortable. Azula’s can turn suffocating and Ty Lee’s is just plain rare. She even likes the tangents he’ll say out of nowhere based on whatever’s he doing, always so opinionated. This one is just confusing.

She raises a brow. “What, like, right now?” Zuko huffs and shrugs. 

“I don’t know! Maybe?... Yes.” 

“Well aren’t you so eloquent.” Zuko scowls and crosses his arms. It’s just the two of them, so she lets herself openly laugh at his response, not unkind. “I’m making jokes.” His expression at least softens with an ‘I knew that’. 

“My question still stands.” Mai places a bookmark in her book and sets it to the side. She sits up straight. She has a suspicion of where this conversation’ll go, but she still wants to confirm it. 

“Yeah, alright. I’ll cut your hair I guess. Is there a reason for this?” His expression re-harshens. He shrugs again. “Work with me here, Zuko.” 

“Do I have to answer that?” 

“Not technically, no. I’d sure like it if you did though.” She watches him formulate a response as he looks away from her and flaps his fingers together. Mai sighs. “Here: Is it a texture thing or gender thing?” Beating around the bush is a help neither to her nor him. Plus, she recalls the rare instances of Zuko impulse-cutting strands of his hair after the feeling was too much on his neck (like brother, like sister she muses self-humorously). And she personally understands the feeling of how _wrong_ a hairstyle can be. 

Zuko’s hands relax and he looks back towards her. “A gender thing.” Mai nods. She stands and heads over to Zuko, softly putting strands of the subject at hand behind his ears and then placing her hands on his shoulders. 

“Now, my dearly handsome boyfriend, care to elaborate on that?” Zuko's face scrunches up in a distinctly unhandsome way as reaction and she takes on a small, amused grin. 

“Never compliment me like that again.”

“Deal. I sounded like the main character of a shitty romcom.” Neither mention how much she actually likes watching those. _Especially_ the shitty ones. 

“But uh, yeah, I’ll ‘elaborate’ or whatever.” She nods again. She hopes her expression conveys her patience. Zuko bites his bottom lip. “It’s just… not me. Not me right now, at least. I hate looking at it in the mirror and seeing it on me. I think I’ll miss it when it’s gone, but I don’t really care right now.” His expression grows more irritated as he talks. She smooths out the furrow in his brow with her thumb. His face is flushed both from the internal anger and the affection.

Mai hums. She hasn’t found herself all that dysphoric as of recent, but that definitely doesn’t mean she doesn’t get how much of a torment it can be. “That must be hard. I guess that’s why you’ve been so tetchy recently.” His look takes on an apologetic note. 

Sheepishly, “I guess.” 

“It’s whatever.” 

“Right. So will you cut it?” Mai steps back once. Her grin takes on something cheeky.

“I said I would, didn’t I? Wait one sec.” With that, she heads to their bathroom to get their little box of haircutting items and a towel. She notices him doing an exaggerated nod and air kiss as she leaves, to which she puts on an expression of disgust, smiling only when he can’t see. To herself, “Gross.” If any of their friends were there, she has a feeling they’d say she sounds absolutely besotted. Eugh. 

Quickly enough she returns, box in hand and towel on her shoulder. She goes back to her place closely in front of Zuko. “Turn around.” To her internal satisfaction, Zuko’s no longer scowling, smiling almost giddily. He swivels himself in his seat, his front now facing the kitchen counter. “You know I’ve never done someone’s hair but my own, right?” 

“I’m fine with that.” 

Mai purses her lips. “Well, no complaining if I completely ruin this then.” She sets the box on the counter. “Hold up your hair for a second.” As he does so, she wraps the towel around him. Luckily, she remembers to get the one with the feel he likes best. 

She takes a moment to observe Zuko’s hair as it is right now. It really is beautiful. It’s thick and dark like hers, though it’s longer than even her own when hers is up. She’d be lying if she said she won’t miss getting to braid or brush it. His comfort comes first to that, however, so. She gives herself a starting nod.

“Right. Okay. How short are we going?”

Zuko shifts where he sits. “I was actually thinking that you could, uh,...” His voice trails off.

“Could what?”

“You could shave it all off?” It’s said in a breath. She blinks.

“Like, a buzzcut?” He nods. She answers fast so he doesn’t start going on one of his self-doubt spirals. “Alright. You _really_ can’t complain if I mess this up.” He nods once more with a snort.

It’s somehow both a quick and exhaustingly slow-going affair. Most of the effort goes into reading their clipper’s manual and cutting the long strands with scissors before actually shaving. She dutifully ignores the near-microscopic shivers Zuko gets whenever she unintentionally strokes or speaks close to his neck, but it does give an overwhelming warm feeling in her. Eventually, it’s all sheared to a mostly equal length she’s satisfied with. She picks out a suitable guard and blade. She plugs in the clipper.

Sifting some cut hair with her hand off the towel, “Last chance before this is all gone. Ready?”

He has a stupid, crooked grin. Ugh, she’s in love. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Mai rolls her eyes. 

“Uh-huh.” She flips it on. The sound of it fills up the space. This part goes quick enough, but she makes sure to take close care in shaving as evenly as possible without hurting any part. She never fails to feel fond when Zuko doesn’t flinch away from her hands or the clipper being near his scar. The motions take on a nice monotony and she zones out into just that. 

One last glide. She’s done. Mai takes a look all around his head. Her smile grows into something proud. She distantly notes to have one of them clean the kitchen floor later, as she slides the towel off him. 

“All done.” He turns back to have his front facing her. Zuko’s smile is still giddy, but it additionally has a relieved brightness to it she hasn’t noticed in him in a small while. 

“How do I look?” 

The box has a mirror in it. She hands it to him. “Really great. See for yourself.” 

He takes it with both hands and looks intently. Zuko lets out a sharp exhale, eyes wide. “Wow.”

“Is that a good wow? Feel like you now?” His responding nod is fast. 

“A very good wow. Yes, I do. Thank you. I love you.” To her own (not-so-)disgust, she feels herself flush at the reply. She rolls her eyes again, but entwines one of his hands into her own. 

“I know. So, how are you going to explain the giant hairstyle change to the others?”

“Well I’ll just tell them nothing more than the fact that my amazing girlfriend did this for me, of course!”

“Yuck.” _I love you too._

**Author's Note:**

> thanks 4 reading !!!! i hope u liked it :) feel free to also check me out on tumblr, where i also post stuff like atla art ! @commiejet
> 
> any & every kudos/comment is appreciated, esp comments ;)


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